When The Universe Is Sleeping
by more-than-words
Summary: He takes her to heaven and back with a simple touch, leaving her head spinning in the stars as his breath coasts over her neck. 10Rose, takes place sometime after Symmetry so you might want to read that first! not strictly necessary though...


**Disclaimer: **Owned by the BBC, not me…

**Rating: **I'm going with T, but let me know if it needs changing.

**Author's note:** This takes place after 'Symmetry', so it might be an idea to read that before reading this, although it's not too essential. There's not much of a plot, but it is a bit smutty- you have been warned! Lol I couldn't stop myself from writing this; it just randomly happened one day. However, I happen to quite like randomness, so I hope you guys do as well! Enjoy, and please review. Jenni xx

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When the rest of the universe is sleeping, when everything is at peace, he takes her to see the stars. They drift through the sky, studying all the wonders laid out before them. The flecks of light outside the window, the colours that sparkle like jewels, the gems reflected in her eyes…

He takes her to a planet she has never seen before, landing in the middle of the night on a beach, the sands black and the wind cool on their warm skin. 'Oh wow,' she says as soon as they step outside.

He smiles and takes her hand, trailing his fingers over her palm. He takes her to heaven and back with a simple touch, leaving her head spinning in the stars as his breath coasts over her neck. 'Oh yes,' she says as his lips brush over her skin, as light as a feather, quiet as a ghost.

They stand together and watch the sky. He points out a comet excitedly as it passes them by, leaving a trail of dust and light in its wake. Her face is a picture of wonder as he describes the stars, calling them each by name as though they are his long lost friends. She loves that he knows so much, loves that he shares it with her and explains it to her. Her arm slides round to his back and holds his body close to hers, remembering how only hours before he showed her the biggest miracles of the universe without even leaving the bedroom. His grip on her tightens and they stand content for seconds, minutes, hours, a lifetime…

There is a rustle in the trees behind them as the breeze catches the leaves. She shivers in his arms. 'Are you cold, Rose?' he asks, dropping his gaze to her face.

She looks back at him and shakes her head. 'I'm fine,' she says. It is only a white lie, but he catches it.

He shakes his head at her and moves his hands to draw his coat around her so they are both engulfed in the warm fabric as though it is a shroud. Her back is pressed against his chest as they stand as close as is possible without becoming the same being. She slides her hands back to grip at his hips and smiles as he hisses with pleasure at her touch. She moves one hand down to rest against his thigh, massaging his leg through the material of his trousers. He stops her movements with a gentle hand over hers, smiling as he presses his lips into her hair. 'The things you do to me,' he says.

As they stand pressed together, she feels her mind slipping from reality until logic and sense begin to leave her and his thoughts merge with hers. She feels him slip into her mind as they stand looking at the network of stars above them. _It's so beautiful,_ she tells him although she doesn't open her mouth.

_Yes it is._ She hears a smile in his reply. She can hear his hearts hammering loudly in his chest and she is sure that he must be able to hear hers too. _But you are more beautiful,_ he tells her, his chest rumbling lightly at her back as though he had actually spoken. She smiles, her head spinning. She is unsure of how to reply to that.

_Beautiful for an ape?_ She decides to make light of his comment even though the thought of it is doing crazy things to her insides.

He smiles, but only for a second and when he replies he is deadly serious. _You are more beautiful than anything I have ever known._ There are traces of passion, of anger and of determination in the way his thoughts echo around in her head. _Don't you ever doubt that,_ he says.

There is silence then, the connection between them drawn out like a white line on a motorway, or an invisible thread binding them together. The space between their minds is cavernous, even though they are closer now than they have been for the whole of their relationship. The enormity of the quiet scares her and he knows it. _Tell me about the universe,_ she requests of him. It is one of her favourite stories.

'It's incredible,' he says out loud. 'Absolutely amazing.' His voice cuts through the night like a knife through butter, like the calm in the middle of the storm, like a birth after a death.

She smiles, knowing that this is true. His passion for existence, for knowledge and for clarity fills her as he surrounds her with his body. He shows her images with his mind, paints pictures for her with his words, and astounds her more and more with every passing second. If heaven exists, she decides, then this must be it. This is paradise.

He extracts his arms from her, stepping back and pulling his coat off. He spreads it out over the sand to act as a blanket, kneeling down before reaching up to bring her down to him. He smiles as he helps her to lie, positioning himself next to her to wrap an arm around her back and coax her head to rest against his chest. He brings his other hand down to smooth over her hair, soothing her, relaxing her… 'We're perfectly still,' he says. 'And yet we're moving so fast.'

And then she can feel the way he feels. The planet is spinning faster than she can imagine beneath them, hurtling around its sun as though it is afraid to lose a race. It falls through space – freefalls- despite its orbit. _Nothing is safe,_ he had told her once, long ago, and she remembers it now. She grasps more tightly at his chest, wanting him to hold her and keep her safe, never wanting him to let her go again. 'Let it carry you, Rose,' he tells her. 'Don't be afraid of it. Don't worry; it's okay. I've got you.' He holds her tighter and kisses her temple, helping her to relax.

She is lulled by his slow breathing and by the steady thud-thud-thud of his hearts. The frantic pace of their journey through space becomes less scary and more fun, more exhilarating and less soul destroying. 'Tell me more,' she begs.

He chuckles, his chest rubbing back and forth over hers. They both gasp. 'Not too fast,' he says. 'It will ruin it. Take it slowly; absorb it, love it. _Feel _it.'

She nods, allowing him to guide her, trusting his judgement and his advice. The sounds of the sea wash over her, waves rolling up to the shore as though they are spectators to this: his show, his story of the universe, of all that it is and all it entails. What makes it great and what makes it weep, what makes it tremble with delight and what makes it quake with pain. Everyone wants a piece of him, and yet in this moment- in this _life_- he belongs to her alone. That knowledge makes her proud and it makes him happy to know that his audience is the best that the universe has to offer.

The universe is sleeping, and this night belongs to them.

'Tell me about the tides,' she says. 'About the sea. Please.'

He smiles and nuzzles her hair with his nose. 'Of all the things in the universe, you want to know about tidal flow.' He sounds slightly bemused.

She nods. 'Yeah. Is that okay?'

'Of course it is.' He breathes deeply, calming himself as her nails scratch at his skin through the fabric of his shirt. He is suddenly warm despite the chill of the night but he pulls her closer nonetheless. He can't seem to keep himself away. 'The sea is calm tonight,' he says, recalling the opening line of a poem. It fits, somehow. He turns her head on his chest so that she is looking up at the moon that floats above them, pale and luminous as it casts its reflection on the water. 'The moon controls the tide,' he says. 'Its ebb, its flow. It pulls it in and drags it out. Imagine it; a piece of rock floating in space that has the power to control what happens on a bigger piece of rock miles below.'

'It's only water,' she says. 'It can't have that much power.'

He holds back his lust as her leg slips between both of his, taunting him, teasing him… 'It does,' he corrects her. 'Water makes the world go round. The sea is responsible for the weather you get; it decides where there will be life and where it will be impossible to survive. Think of the crises on Earth, Rose. A lot of those are to do with water.' He points at the moon. 'And it's all down to that.'

She shivers as he traces circles on her back with his thumb, her t-shirt and jumper no barrier between his touch and the effect that he has on her. 'That's amazing,' she says. 'No wonder they were so desperate to try and walk on it.' She feels his smile as his lips rest against her forehead. 'Tell me more.'

'Ah Rose, why do you ask me to tell you things when you already know so much?'

'Because you know more than I do. I want to learn.' She shifts and sprawls herself on top of him, their legs tangling together and she grasps his face in her hands. She brings her face down so their lips are only centimetres apart but she pulls her head away when he tries to capture her for a kiss, teasing him. 'You drove me crazy earlier,' she says when he looks put out. 'All your explanations about symmetry, your voice, your touch, your mouth…' She drops her head to place a kiss on his neck, sucking lightly on his pulse point and enjoying the double throb of his hearts against her tongue. She pulls away when he moans lightly. 'It felt like I was flying,' she tells him. 'Do you know what I mean?'

He nods, trying to bring himself back into contact with her mouth. 'Yes, I know,' he says. 'It happened to me too. Amazing.'

She rewards him with a kiss, locking her lips onto his and sucking gently. Her tongue darts out to trace the line of his top lip and he gasps, seizing her face to take control of the kiss. Her hands drop to his shoulders as his tongue slides into her mouth, tracing her teeth and dancing with her own tongue as though a tango were playing in the background. She clings to him as though she would fall if she let go, relying on him to keep her safe, keep her grounded and sane. He pulls back to rub their lips together and they both shudder with pent-up passion and longing that seems as old as the universe itself. To think that everything would one day end- that this amazing, beautiful magic between them would end- is at this moment incomprehensible, inconceivable. Impossible. It feels like it should last forever, but they both know that deep down even forever cannot last forever. If you can name something, it suggests that it has a beginning, middle and an end, even if the end is forced. The only thing that will go on into 'eternity' is time. They both know this, but there is no need to acknowledge it tonight. Not when it feels this good just to be together.

He lets his hands roam over her back, slipping up beneath her jumper to touch her skin. Her youthful softness feels wonderful against his time-worn hands and he presses his lips harder against hers. All too soon, she pulls back. 'That's not fair,' she says.

'What's not fair?'

'You,' she tells him. 'You can't do that and think that you're going to get out of telling me things.'

He adopts a mock-hurt expression and she laughs, kissing his cheek. 'You're daft,' she says.

He looks as though he is considering this. 'Can't I do that and tell you things at the same time?'

She looks sceptical. 'Like you did earlier, you mean? I don't think I heard anything you said! I was too high up in the sky.'

He tilts his head to the side and snatches a kiss from her before she can pull away again. 'It wouldn't be exactly like earlier,' he tells her. 'Perhaps I don't need to say anything this time.'

'What do you mean?'

He doesn't answer, instead cradling her against his chest so he can roll her onto her back and hold her beneath him, his hips against hers and their hands locked together. He smiles before moving slightly to the side, pulling his hands out of hers to use one arm as a pillow and slide the other around her waist. She moves so she can see him better, bringing one arm up to lie across his as it rests on her stomach, her free hand tracing the contours of his face. Their breath mingles together as they face each other, so close their noses are almost touching. He moves to kiss her once more, frowning slightly as she pulls back. 'Rose,' he says. 'Don't do that, angel.'

Her heart zooms up into her throat as he calls her 'angel', that single word having a greater effect on her than any other he has spoken to her since they first met, all that time ago. She doesn't stop him the next time he captures her lips with his, instead leaning into his kiss and loving him with her mouth. '_Angel_' echoes around in her head as she feels him slip inside her mind again, joining them in ways she never thought it was possible to be close to someone except in fantasies and fairy stories. He feeds her images as he feeds her his breath, mixing his oxygen with hers and completing her in every way.

Pictures explode in her mind, layer after layer, image after image. She wonders if this is what he sees all the time. _Yes,_ he tells her. _But only when I choose to._ He works her lips with his, making her whimper as he shows her the universe as he sees it. One hundred billion billion stars and he could probably name them all if he tried. Some of the stars in the sky above them could well be dead as their light takes so long to travel to the planet, but he shows them to her as they should be; alive, bright and magical. She gasps into his mouth and grips at the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. She needs this connection but she needs his support to endure it. He obliges, sliding his hand out from beneath his head and moving it rest against her rib cage. _Relax,_ he says. _Let it wash over you._

She does as he says, relaxing into the slideshow that he is feeding into her head. His lips are growing more urgent on hers and the images start to come faster. She sees stars living and she sees them dying, the matter they give out making endless journeys through space- creating new stars and new life forms, eventually filtering down to make up the calcium in her bones and the zinc in her hair. It has all been through the hottest furnaces imaginable before settling down inside of her and she feels as though she is on fire as his lips brand hers with his heat, and his hands sear her skin like a flame. Suddenly she is overwhelmed and she pushes him away, immediately cold at the loss of so much warmth and her connection with him and she shivers. She feels tears welling up in her eyes. 'How…' she starts, pulling in a ragged breath as a tear slips down her cheek. 'How do you…?'

'Oh, Rose,' he says. He keeps his distance, not wanting to upset her more. Instead he leans over carefully, wiping her cheek with his thumb. 'I'm sorry, angel. I didn't mean to scare you.'

She shakes her head. 'It was like it was happening,' she says. 'Is that what you see? How you feel?'

There is no point in lying to her now. He nods, holding her gaze. 'Yes,' he says simply.

'How do you live with that?'

He shrugs, sliding his hand across the ground to find hers and covering her fingers with his. 'I'm used to it,' he tells her. 'That's the way it's always been.'

She nods, and shuffles back to him. He holds his arms out and she accepts his invitation, settling down to rest her head against his chest once again. She holds him tighter now, scared that she might lose him in the midst of all he knows, everything he carries around with him in his brain; so much knowledge that could drive him mad, hurt him in ways she can't begin to imagine.

He presses a kiss to her forehead as she relaxes against him. 'How do you see the universe?' he asks her, his lips never leaving her skin. 'Show me what you see.'

'It's a lot simpler than what you see,' she tells him.

He smiles at that. 'Most things are,' he says. He kisses his way down from her forehead to her mouth, gently teasing her lips with his until she gasps and pushes herself into him. He looks at her, his eyes seeking her permission and she nods. He re-establishes his connection with her mind as he slowly increases his pressure on her lips. _Show me what you see,_ he says and feels her smile inside of him.

He is awash with bright colours as she feeds him her vision through their kiss. Fluorescent oranges and flamingo pinks meld together and overwhelm his senses, coupling with the smell of jasmine and raspberry. He feels light-headed as his pain, all his years of death and anger and anguish are taken away from him, replaced with something simpler, something lighter. He feels fresh, new and alive. He sees the universe as she sees it, the same way he used to see it all those years ago; before the war, before he lost all he knew and loved. It is a great adventure, each thing new and challenging, an infinite number of wondrous things still to be seen and conquered. He feels her excitement, her enthusiasm. He senses her slight fear of him the first time they met, the idea of him being something new and dangerous and alien. Then he feels her acceptance of him, the way she grew to like him and trust him, respect him and later love him. He feels her joy as he takes her exploring, showing her new things that no one from her time will never even know about or comprehend.

He feels the things that she feels as he kisses her, her anticipation and growing need for him as he grips her rib cage and her waist, her lips sliding down to his jaw as her hands trace over his chest and the features of his face. He is almost shocked to learn that she thinks he is attractive; over the years he's come disregard his physical appearance as important. The bright colours are changing now into something darker as her desire for him grows. He sees lavenders and dark emerald greens and midnight blues, and a flash of black broken by pinpricks of light that mirrors the sky above their heads. He didn't think that it was possible to need someone the way he needs her now in this moment, to need to feel her close to him, complete with him.

She shows him the stars so that he is seeing them through fresh eyes, seeing them for the first time for the second time. _They're so beautiful,_ she says. _It never gets old._

He knows then that she is right. Stars may grow old and die, but the spectacle of seeing them close up will never lose its magic or its majesty. It will always be amazing. Just as she is amazing now. He fights his impulse to seize control of the situation and satisfy his burning desire for her. He knows that this is better, more intimate than anything he could ever experience anywhere in the universe and he knows that it is worth it. To see inside her head, for her to show him the things she sees and the way she feels is incredible. He hears a moan, loud and clear, and he is only vaguely aware that it has come from him. His head is spinning as she sucks and bites at his neck, her hand working his shirt out of his trousers to slide up and skim over his stomach. He growls low in his throat and hauls her tightly up against him.

_Doctor,_ she calls out to him as their minds become one. _I need you._

_You have me,_ he says. _I'm here, what do you need, angel? _He sucks in a gasping breath as he is hit with a wall of bright red passion, the deep claret shade joining with the jasmine scent to flood through him and fuel his aching need for her. _Oh God, Rose,_ he groans inside her head.

_I know,_ she replies. _What's happening? _He can feel her want and need for him, but he also knows that it scares her, this great passion that seems big enough to consume them whole.

He feels her lips move back to his mouth, kissing him gently. He allows himself to pull back out of her mind a little way, letting the intense red heat and emotion subside until it is hovering as a colourwash over them, instead of staining them and tainting them with its power.

'What was that?' she asks him. He hears the slight shake in her voice and the tremor in her body as her lips continue to brush his.

'I don't know,' he replies. 'That's never happened to me before.'

'It was really scary,' she says. 'Did I… Did I do that?'

He shakes his head and drops kisses over her face. 'I think it was both of us,' he tells her as he peppers kisses over her cheeks, holding her against his body to keep her safe. 'The connection that we shared, and our um… desires led to a build up of um… um…'

She smiles. 'Is that your way of saying you have no idea?' she teases him.

He returns her smile, feeling the tension between them begin to grow again. 'Yeah, pretty much,' he admits.

She drops her head to his chest, feeling his hearts beat in time with the waves that are rolling up the shore, bringing with them remnants of an alien place and bringing a little piece of history along with them. Her eyes slip close as she rests her hand on his chest beneath his shirt, feeling the small groan rip through him as her nails scratch lightly over his muscles. She feels her fear slipping away as the deep red passion slowly fades away. She finds herself wishing that she hadn't been afraid of it, hadn't run away the first time things got a little heavy between them. She wanted more than anything to have carried on, to have followed through on their shared desire but she knows that it is right that they stopped. She would have been overwhelmed by the sensation and the colour, and she knows that he would never forgive himself if he thought that he had made her do something when she was frightened. She breathes deeply, matching her breaths to his so that their chests rise and fall at the same time, increasing the contact between them as she lies on top of him.

The stars twinkle in the sky above, and she imagines that she can see them through her eyelids. She sees them laid out before her like diamonds on a black velvet canvas, melding together perfectly like cream into hot coffee.

'Mmm, that would be nice,' he says with a smile in his voice.

'What would?' she replies, surprised at how languid and sleepy her voice sounds.

'Hot coffee with cream.'

'Oh,' she tries to sound annoyed but it falls slightly flat. 'Are you reading my thoughts?'

She feels him nod. 'Guilty as charged,' he says. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry.'

She shakes her head and snuggles closer to him. 'Nah, it's okay. I don't have anything to hide. Not from you.'

He holds her tighter as the breeze picks up, lifting her hair and whipping it around her face. She moves her hands from his chest to push it back behind her ears, unable to stop the shiver that rips through her from the chill of the night. He kisses her temple before smoothing her hair down and shifting so that he can roll her off him. 'You're cold,' he says. 'We should go back inside the TARDIS. Hot coffee is waiting!'

She slips off his body to lie at his side, missing his warmth immediately. 'Yeah,' she agrees somewhat reluctantly. 'Coffee would be good. But then we have to…' she trails off, slightly embarrassed.

'We have to what?' he asks, although he knows what she will say. He is having exactly the same thoughts himself.

'We have to, um… finish what we started,' she says, raising her eyebrows suggestively and running one finger down his chest, over his stomach, over his trousers… He gasps and grabs her hand, swallowing heavily as she smiles widely.

'Yes, we certainly do,' he says.

'But maybe we could leave the scary red thing out of it for a little while.'

He smiles, regaining some of his composure as he extracts himself from her and takes her hands to pull her up to stand at his side. 'Yes,' he agrees. 'We probably should. For now, at least. Until we know for sure what it is.'

He leans down and picks up his coat from the sand, shaking it out and then wrapping it around her like a cape, moving her hands and encouraging her to pull it closed around herself. 'Thanks,' she says.

'You're welcome, Rose,' he tells her sincerely. He wraps his arm tightly around her and begins to steer her back to the TARDIS, his aching need for her lingering in his body with the promise of later fulfilment. But he knows that will come later, when they are far away from here and cruising through the stars. Now though, he has built himself up to this and he will not stop until he gets it: he needs coffee, needs it like he's never needed it before and he finds himself almost fighting with her to be the first through the door to the kitchen, racing against her to get there first, to take the first sip of that hot bittersweet liquid marbled with cream in a china mug…

When the universe is sleeping, when everything is at peace, he takes her to see the stars. He shows her things she never dreamed of, things that should be impossible but with him even impossible is never really that. _A universe of infinite possibility Rose,_ he tells her when she questions him one day, scared about the end of things and the fickleness of the meaning of the word 'forever'. _In a universe of infinite possibility, _he says._ How can the impossible not be possible? Somehow, someway… And so maybe one day 'forever' will actually mean just that. Time will tell,_ he says as he draws her close. _It always does._

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**A/N:** Just recently I seem to have been bitten by the bug of cheesy endings. They just keep happening! If anyone can tell me how to make them go away, I'd LOVE to know about it… Hmmm… sequel or no sequel? Would writing the third in the series be too much? I have a feeling it's liable to all get a bit more, ahem, 'explosive' if I do that… doubt the admin people would approve. Maybe I'll put it up elsewhere... Hm, well anyway, let me know what you think!

Pretty please leave a review! Jen x


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